Safety Cases

Since the UK left the EU, the Offshore Major Accident Regulator (OMAR) is the UK's Offshore Competent Authority (previously known as the Offshore Safety Directive Regulator (OSDR). How HSE regulate the offshore industry stays the same.

Competent Authority Portal ('CAP'): Industry user guidance

EU Directive (2013/30/EU) on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations required Member States to set up a Competent Authority (CA) to oversee Industry compliance with the Directive and to undertake certain related functions such as accepting and/or assessing relevant submissions and inspecting relevant notifications. Since the UK left the EU, the Offshore Major Accident Regulator (OMAR) is the UK’s Offshore Competent Authority and will remain the same.  

The CA functions are delivered by the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) (part of the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) working in partnership. The partnership formed for this purpose by OPRED and HSE is formally known as the Offshore Major Accident Regulator (OMAR). OMAR agreed to develop an online portal for the submission of documents by the industry and for the CA to carry out its functions as required under the Directive.

The following guide provides information on submitting safety cases, material changes and thorough reviews to OMAR using the CAP.

Guidance for using the portal to submit safety cases, material changes and thorough reviews (PDF) [31]

The following guide provides information on using CAP to transfer assets between duty holders

CAP Industry User Guidance for Asset Transfer (PDF) [32]

Assessment Principles for Offshore Safety Cases (APOSC) (PDF) [33] sets out the principles against which OMAR assesses safety cases

The following framework diagram describes the process by which OMAR will assess safety cases.

Topic specialist assessment templates have been developed for all topic disciplines for use by OMAR topic specialists to assist in the assessment of safety cases.

Dutyholders are asked to complete, as a minimum, the Safety Case Initial Review template, which significantly speeds up the assessment process. Dutyholders are also strongly encouraged to complete other topic discipline templates, as experience has found this speeds up the assessment process further, and improves the quality of regulatory submissions.

Link URLs in this page

  1. OMARhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/index.htm
  2. Overview - The Competent Authorityhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/authority/index.htm
  3. OMAR Governancehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/authority/governance.htm
  4. Appeals Processhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/authority/appeals.htm
  5. Freedom of Informationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/authority/foi.htm
  6. Enforcement Policieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/authority/enforcement.htm
  7. Cost Recovery Guidancehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/authority/charging.htm
  8. Overview - OMAR Operations and Guidancehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/guidance/index.htm
  9. Guidance Regulationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/guidance/guidance-regulations.htm
  10. Design / Relocation Notificationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/guidance/design-relocation.htm
  11. Overview - Safety Caseshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/safety-cases/index.htm
  12. Safety Case Topic Specialist Assessment Templates and Guidancehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/safety-cases/safety-case-topic-specialist-assessment.htm
  13. Dismantlement Safety Caseshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/safety-cases/dismantlement-safety-cases.htm
  14. Oil Pollution Emergency Plans (OPEP)https://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/guidance/oil-pollution.htm
  15. Well Notificationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/guidance/well-notifications.htm
  16. Combined Operations Notificationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/guidance/combined-operations.htm
  17. Thorough Reviewshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/guidance/thorough-reviews.htm
  18. Requesting an Exemptionhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/guidance/requesting-exemption.htm
  19. Investigationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/guidance/investigation.htm
  20. Inspectionhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/guidance/inspection.htm
  21. OMAR Consultation on Licensing and Appointment of Operatorshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/guidance/consultation.htm
  22. Overview - Reportinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/reporting/index.htm
  23. Reporting Incidents to OMARhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/reporting/incidents-to-omar.htm
  24. Confidential Reporting to OMARhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/reporting/confidential-reporting.htm
  25. Offshore publicationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/reporting/offshore-publications.htm
  26. Overview - OMAHAChttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/omahac.htm
  27. Further informationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/information.htm
  28. Meetingshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/omahac-papers/index.htm
  29. Membershiphttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/omahac-membership.htm
  30. News and eventshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/news.htm
  31. Guidance for using the portal to submit safety cases, material changes and thorough reviews https://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/assets/docs/cap-industry-user-guidance.pdf
  32. CAP Industry User Guidance for Asset Transferhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/assets/docs/cap-asset-transfer-industry-guidance.pdf
  33. Assessment Principles for Offshore Safety Cases (APOSC)https://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/assets/docs/aposc.pdf
  34. Framework Diagram – Safety Case Assessmenthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/assets/docs/framework-diagram-safety-case-assessment.pdf
  35. Resolving differences of professional judgement and finely balanced decisions framework diagramhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/assets/docs/framework-resolving-differences.pdf
  36. Safety Case Topic Specialist Assessment Templates and Guidancehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/safety-cases/safety-case-topic-specialist-assessment.htm
  37. Dismantlement safety caseshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/omar/safety-cases/dismantlement-safety-cases.htm

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Updated: 2024-06-12